Monolith THX AAA Balanced Headphone Amplifier TROUBLESHOOTING Power Button

[kefka]

Monolith THX AAA Balanced Headphone Amplifier​

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https://www.amazon.com/Monolith-Headphone-Technology-Single-Ended-139359/dp/B088HKCRT1/ref=pd_ci_mcx_mh_mcx_views_0_image?pd_rd_w=H3T9y&content-id=amzn1.sym.bb21fc54-1dd8-448e-92bb-2ddce187f4ac%3Aamzn1.symc.40e6a10e-cbc4-4fa5-81e3-4435ff64d03b&pf_rd_p=bb21fc54-1dd8-448e-92bb-2ddce187f4ac&pf_rd_r=B5D2AR2ZPCY6RG6AM9H1&pd_rd_wg=rZRwx&pd_rd_r=05ee7f7c-dcfc-4fd9-9b65-9b4bc598ebca&pd_rd_i=B088HKCRT1

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Running it through a Schiit Modius DAC ---> 2 analog balanced cables ---> Amp ---> balanced out ---> Headphones​

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Had this amp and given it many hours of use daily since April of 2023. Today it was working fine and I went to use it after a minute away from the desk and the "White light" power won't turn on. It turns red like its stuck in stand by mode. Almost like its not getting enough juice from the supply to trigger the full power? Tried all the usual things one would think to do. Has anyone had an issue with these before?​

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The only thing I can think is I was using them with 2 extended balanced cables like 12ft of extra cable to sit in bed and watch a movie earlier but it was fine until after I sat them down and picked it up again later. Also I have just rearranged my desk setup and it is sitting close to the window to the outside, although it is at least 66-70 in the room, the Amp did feel a bit cold when I started to trouble shoot it.​

Is there anything else I can try? I am no expert and this is my first Headphone amp.

If anything what other Amps would you all recommend? Not trying to have to buy one every year so I don't think I'll be going with the same brand if I do.

 

[unpluggged]

You might want to look here: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/headphone-amp-audio-repair.24799/

 

[kefka]

Schiit Midgard Headphone Amp and Preamp with Balanced and Single-Ended Inputs and Outputs

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0CL1983DS/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

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I am going to try this product. Its made in America and I already have the DAC they make which has held up longer than the Monolith THX from China. I did order a 2nd power supply for the Monolith and I will update you all if that solves the problem.​

 

[kefka]

For some reason I feel like sitting in bed with the extended daisy chain balanced cables on such a low power amp might have caused either the power supply to weaken over time (the light still comes on the pack so that seems maybe unlikely), or maybe somehow the static electricity from the bed back fed into the unit itself and caused some sort of power issue. The light still turns on it just stays red like its in stand-by mode.

 

[unpluggged]

Its made in America

Well, we have already seen how they make their products:

Schiit Magni 3+ Headphone Amp Teardown

This is a tear down of the Schiit Magni 3+ headphone amplifier which I just reviewed. Schiit has come a long way on objective performance. Question remains as to build quality. Other than some really tight screws, taking the unit apart was easy and shows care in reducing cost. Putting all...

www.audiosciencereview.com

Schiit Magni Heresy Headphone Amp Teardown

This is a tear down of the recently reviewed Schiit Magni Heresy Headphone Amplifier. This version of Magni is uses integrated circuits ("OpAmps") as opposed to discrete output stage which in my measurements, garnered it far lower distortion and won my strong recommendation. The screws were a...

www.audiosciencereview.com

Hardware Teardown of Schiit Fulla (V2) DAC and Headphone Amplifier

I recently performed a review of Schiit Fulla DAC and Headphone amplifier. This is a follow teardown of the unit. Let's start with top down view of the unit: Starting on the right side we see the typical USB controller (Cmedia CM6631A) driving an AKM AK4490EQ DAC. An external flash IC...

www.audiosciencereview.com

Hardware Teardown of Schiit Modi 2 USB DAC

A recent discussion in the review of Schiit Modi 2 reminded me that I was planning to do a hardware teardown of it. As reminder, the Schiit Modi 2 is a low cost ($120 shipped) USB DAC. Audio is captured through the USB port and output on those pair of RCA jacks. The only thing unusual is...

www.audiosciencereview.com

OTOH,

Tear down of Massdrop THX AAA 789 Headphone Amp

With kind permission of the owner, I took apart the Massdrop THX AAA 789 headphone amplifier. If you have not seen it yet, check my my review of Massdrop THX 789. The internal structure of this unit follows other models from Massdrop. I was impressed with the effort to keep all the components...

www.audiosciencereview.com

And could you please not play around with fonts so much?

I still suggest you to look through the THX AAA 789 amp main thread (you Monolith is the same device, just in a different casing), there are reports about similar issues. Perhaps you could find some useful answers.

 

[kefka]

And could you please not play around with fonts so much?

There seems to be no way to reset the fonts after copy and paste. Its something with the forum.

I appreciate the links and I'll definitely look into them. Thank you for the advice.